Now or Never
by LemonNinjaa
Summary: Sick of everything, Amu goes for a walk. A group of X-Eggs come and do something to her that no one's ever seen before. She's rescued by the one person who's always been there for her, by the person she loves the most. Oneshot.


It didn't seem like a very good day for Amu.

First, she woke up late. She stubbed her toe on her dresser, and then tripped on the last step as she was running out of the house. She arrived to school 5 minutes after the bell, much to the displeasure of her homeroom teacher. Then she had to take a pop quiz, but since she was late, she didn't have enough time to finish. Throughout the day, she noticed that the Guardians always seemed to be talking with their heads together, and whenever they noticed she was looking, they broke off conversation.

_What the fuck is their problem? _Amu thought irritably. The last thing she wanted today was to deal with the Guardians and her friendship issues. _I'm sick of all of this, why do I have to go to school…_

The bell rang, and Amu, picking up her bag, attempted to get away without having to speak to her "friends".

"Amu-chan!" Nagihiko called.

_FUCK!_ Amu raged inside her head. She turned around, schooling her features into a happy smile and expectant gaze.

"Yes, Nagihiko-kun?" She inquired.

"Could you please come to a short Guardian meeting at the garden right now? I apologize for the extremely short notice, but we could use you right now," Nagihiko smiled disarmingly.

Amu sighed exasperatedly in her mind. _Fucking Nagihiko thinks it'll be okay with just a smile, but it's not,_ she thought, then resigned herself to her fate.

"Sure, Nagihiko-kun, I'll be there in 3 minutes!" Amu said chirpily.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Amu-chan." Nagihiko bowed and left the room.

_Ugh, I don't want to have this stupid meeting,_ Amu thought, annoyed, before she left the classroom.

Upon entering the greenhouse designated specifically for Guardians, Amu saw everyone was already there, talking animatedly about something.

As she expected, they stopped once they noticed her, and started talking about X-Eggs.

Amu sighed again. _I don't want to fucking be here,_ she thought with irritation.

"Ah, Amu-chan, sit down! We're going to talk about…" Tadase smiled and Amu quickly tuned out.

Drumming her fingers on the table, she pretended she was paying attention.

_I want to just go home…_ Amu sighed internally.

Time passed ever so slowly. Amu's eyes were half-open and glazed over with boredom.

Finally, half an hour later, Tadase announced they could all go home. It was 3:30pm, and Amu was tired.

Quickly saying her goodbyes, she ran off for home, pretending she had some errands to do.

Finally closing her bedroom door, she learned against it and sank down to the floor in relief.

"Finally," she said out loud, her eyes closing.

Her Charas flew out of her bag, yawning. They had had better things to do than listen to the meeting, like taking a nap. Amu envied them; they never really had to pay attention in the meetings, they could just attend and play with the other Charas.

"You guys are so lucky," Amu spoke her thoughts aloud. "You didn't have to sit there and listen to Tadase's bullshit."

Her Charas each gave her a smile, empathizing with her situation.

Amu flopped on her bed after changing into a black pleated skirt and a red tank top with a black star on it. A black-and-white striped hoodie was thrown over it, zipper open. She stared up at the ceiling, going over her day.

She sighed once more. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Maybe we should go to the park," she suggested out loud, wanting to hear her Charas' opinions. She knew they liked going there, because it was a beautiful and relaxing place.

"Wai wai!" Ran cheered, always excited at the possibility of exercise.

"Demo, Amu-chan, shouldn't you do your homework first, desu?" Su inquired, mother-like.

Amu sighed, and visibly drooped.

"Yeah, I guess…" The girl reluctantly agreed.

"Gomen, Amu-chan, but schoolwork takes priority, desu," Su replied.

"You're right, Su, don't worry about it," Amu half-smiled.

Sitting down at her desk, she started her math homework first.

A couple hours later, she had finally finished all of her work due the next day. Stretching her arms and arching her back in her chair, Amu checked the clock: 6:24pm. Dinner would be soon, judging by the smell that had wafted up into her room about 15 minutes before.

"We could always go to the park after dinner," Amu thought out loud.

Miki looked up approvingly, and then returned to her drawing.

Dia twirled in the air, her pigtails flying about her head, as she smiled sweetly.

Amu smiled at the reactions of her Charas.

"Amu-chan! Dinner!" Her mother called from downstairs.

"Okay!" Amu called back.

She walked out her room, closing the door, and headed downstairs. Upon reaching the kitchen, she saw her father and sister already seated.

Sitting down, Amu didn't look at either of them, looking down fixedly at her plate.

"Ah, so cool and spicy!" Amu-chan!" Her father wept comically at her attitude.

Amu sweat-dropped at his behaviour. Her mother sat down to eat too.

The dinner conversation consisted of her father going on about how cute Ami was, and how "cool and spicy" Amu was. Amu's mom either ignored him or agreed with him.

Amu kept her eyes on her food, not looking up at her family. She ate as fast as possible and excused herself, returning upstairs to her room.

"We'll go in like 5 minutes, I need to get ready. I really hope we don't see any of the Guardians there," Amu said to her Charas, muttering the last part under her breath.

Amu walked into the bathroom. Pulling it out of the messy side half-ponytail, she quickly combed it straight. Using two red X clips, she clipped her hair to the sides of her face, keeping it out of the way.

Walking out, she gathered what she'd need: her cell phone, $10 just in case, and her iPod, just because. She threw them into a small black shoulder bag with white diagonal stripes on the front flap.

"Minna, are you ready?" Amu asked.

All of her Charas replied affirmatively. She picked up her house key, and with Charas in tow, padded downstairs.

"I'm going for a walk," Amu announced to her parents, who were fawning over Ami. As usual, her father was crying in awe and taking pictures of the little girl, who was posing dramatically on a stool. Her mother was crying too, exclaiming at the cuteness of their youngest daughter.

Sighing exasperatedly, Amu walked over to the front door, pulled on black heeled boots that stopped just under her knee, and slammed the front door behind her.

"SO COOL AND SPICY!" Her parents were heard screaming through the door.

Amu rolled her eyes and started walking, keeping her head down and gaze to the ground.

_I don't want to live like this anymore. __There's nothing here for me,_ Amu thought, staring blankly at her feet moving forward.

Her Charas remained quiet, not wanting to intrude into her thoughts.

Surreptitiously looking around to check that no one was around, Amu started singing quietly, her voice ringing sweetly but sorrowfully throughout the air.

Dia smiled sadly at Amu's singing; the gold Chara knew Amu was not doing it for happiness. Through song, the pink-haired girl was releasing all of her negativity.

Amu wasn't paying attention to where she was going. When she felt soft grass under her feet, she looked up. She had managed to walk to the soccer field at school.

_It seems I'll always be haunted by school and these memories,_ she thought, sighing internally. She might as well just stay, since her feet had led her there.

Finding a comfortable spot, she sat against a tree. She stared up blankly at the sunset, watching the massive star paint the sky bright pink and orange.

She kept singing. There was nothing else to do, and it was relaxing.

Ran looked around.

"Wah, Amu-chan, there are X-Eggs coming our way!" The pink Chara yelled.

The girl looked at Ran, her gold eyes slightly confused.

"Amu-chan, they're right there, desu!" Su squealed.

Seeing no visible reaction from her owner, Ran thought quickly.

"Amu-chan no kokoro: Unrokku!"

Ran gasped at the sheer amount of sadness Amu was feeling. It affected the Chara-nari.

_Amu-chan, why aren't you moving? Amu-chan! _Ran cried from inside Amu's heart.

Snapping out of her reverie, Amu looked at the X-Eggs speeding her way.

"They must have been attracted by the feelings in Amu-chan's song!" Miki postulated.

Amu stood up in a ready stance, but then saw what looked like 30 X-Eggs. Her eyes widened in shock.

_There are so many!_ She cried in her head. _I can't possibly do this all by myself! I'm just a girl who can't even figure out who she really is…_

Amu's eyes were downcast as she lamented her lack of ability to be independent and strong and useful.

_Amu-chan! Amu-chan! They're coming! AMU-CHAN!_ Ran screamed.

The girl remained lost in her despair.

The other Charas looked on in fear as their sister and owner were completely prone to whatever the X-Eggs intended to do. The black eggs surrounded the girl in a circle, and started to glow an eerie blackish-purple.

"Amu-chan!" Her Charas exclaimed, worriedly.

Tears started rolling down Amu's milky white cheeks. _I can't do anything for anyone, I'm so useless… Nobody wants me around…Nobody knows who I really am… Nobody loves me…_ She thought hopelessly.

The eggs that surrounded her glowed their brightest yet, and suddenly Amu's knees buckled. She stretched out her arms so her hands laid flat on the grass in the space between her legs, holding her up, as her legs were bent on either side of her with her inner thighs against the ground. She looked like a lost and broken little girl, with the tears in her eyes and her desolate expression. She was still Amulet Heart, and the cheerfulness of her outfit contrasted drastically with her feelings and facial expression.

_Amu-chan! What's wrong?_ Ran asked, anxious. She could feel her owner not moving at all.

_I…can't move anymore… What happened?_ Amu thought, confused. _I can't…move my legs at all…Ah! _An uncomfortable feeling started travelling up her legs, feeling somewhat like a cross between burning and tingling.

"I…I can't move," Amu said through gritted teeth, her eyes shut. It hurt enough for fresh tears to well up in Amu's eyes.

She whimpered, trying not to scream from the pain.

She shrank in on herself, looking more fragile and child-like by the second. _Why… Why does it hurt so much?_ She thought, not realizing it was coming from the X-Eggs. In the wake of her pain, she had forgotten about them.

_The pain is getting worse…_ Amu thought hysterically. She squeezed her eyelids shut, and curled inwards.

A high-pitched keening started. It wasn't coming from her ears; it felt almost like it was inside her mind. It gave her a headache and what little concentration she had previously was shattered.

"Amu-chan!" Her other Charas flew towards her to try and help, but the X-Eggs blocked their way and shocked them, so they fell to the ground, dazed.

It felt like her existence was defined by pain. It was her past, her present, and future. The sharp ache was all she could think about.

The Chara-nari deactivated, and Amu's normal clothes re-appeared. Ran was sent flying out of the circle of X-Eggs, and landed heavily on the ground. Her eyes were swirly with dizziness.

Two silhouettes appeared at the top of the school. One was very small, obviously a Chara, and was floating next to, presumably, its owner. A cat tail and ears were visible on humanoid silhouette.

Sharp navy eyes looked down at the soccer field of Seiyo Elementary. They hardened in shock at the sight of a pink-haired girl surrounded by floating black eggs with white Xs on them. A purplish-black glow was emanating from these eggs.

As the person jumped off the building, they kept their gaze locked onto the girl, watching with wide eyes as she went unconscious and fell forward onto the grass.

Ikuto raced toward the fallen teenager, ignoring the X-Eggs as they flew away, their job done. He lifted her up bridal style, looking sadly at the tearstains on her cheeks. Her delicate brow was slightly furrowed.

"Ikuto, what are you going to do with her, nya?" Yoru piped up.

"Take her home, I guess," his velvety voice held an undercurrent of concern.

"What if her parents are home?" The cat Chara asked.

"We'll get around them somehow," Ikuto evenly replied.

He picked up her Charas and put them gently into the girl's shoulder bag. He leapt away, holding Amu tightly but gingerly.

When he finally arrived at her house, he saw all the lights were off. He quietly took the key out of Amu's bag and unlocked the door. Slipping inside silently in a way only cats could, he locked the door behind him, and advanced through the house.

Yoru noticed a piece of paper lying in an obvious place.

"Ikuto, nya! Look at this!" He whispered.

He floated back to his owner with the paper, and held it up for the navy haired teenager to read.

_'Gomenasai Amu-chan, we received a call-back for Ami-chan's audition, and they needed her right away to try out her new part in her play! We'll be back in a few days; I'll call you at home tomorrow to let you know! Love, Mama'_

"Even my parents were better than this…" Ikuto said, no longer fearing he'd be heard. "They just leave her alone in the house without any notice…"

Ikuto continued upstairs to Amu's room. He rested her in her bed, taking off her bag and slipping off her boots. Looking at her for a moment just to make sure she was comfortable, he opened her bag again and took out her Charas.

Staring at them for a few seconds, he poked the loud, pink one in the hopes of eliciting a response. He wasn't disappointed.

"Hmm? Ah, Ikuto!" Ran quickly woke up.

"What happened?" Ikuto asked.

"Eto… Amu-chan wanted to go for a walk, so we followed her, and we ended up at the soccer field. She was singing and then these X-Eggs came along, so I did a Chara-nari with her. But then something happened and the Chara-nari undid itself, and I was thrown out of the circle of X-Eggs surrounding her. I don't know what happened but Amu seemed to be in a lot of pain," Ran finished, talking fast.

Ikuto looked down, trying figure out just what happened to his little strawberry. _This kind of thing has never happened before…_ He thought.

He saw the gold Chara stirring. Her caramel eyes blinked open, and saw Ikuto.

"Amu-chan's song attracted the X-Eggs, but I don't know about their reaction. Maybe they went crazy with all the negativity," Dia spoke immediately, realizing the situation.

Ikuto's eyes darkened. Amu was too young to have to feel this way all the time. He had figured that the singing Ran and Dia were talking about wasn't the happy kind of singing that Amu's little sister did all the time. He couldn't even imagine Amu singing songs like that, anyway. Darker songs suited her better. If only she didn't feel the way she did…

Ikuto sighed and looked at Amu again. She was tossing and turning quietly, the only sound being her bed sheets rustling. Her eyebrows were furrowed and the corners of her mouth were turned down.

_Even in her sleep she tries not to catch attention…_ He thought, realizing how selfless Amu really was. He knew she didn't deserve to feel this way at all. It hurt him to know that she's been suffering for so long and never spoke a word. _She never wants anyone to worry about her… And she's been feeling this way all this time…_ _I promise, Amu, I'll make it better. I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy._

He reached out and caressed her cheek gently. Amu stirred but did not wake, and she made a quiet whining noise in her throat. He smirked; his little strawberry was more like a cat than they both thought.

He sat down silently on the bed and began stroking her pale pink tresses. They were silky soft to the touch; again, Amu was more cat-like than either of them knew.

_I should try to get her to Chara-nari with Yoru,_ he mused, another smirk crossing his features as he imagined his love with cat ears and a blush on her pretty face.

It was about 8pm now.

"Ikuto, nya! What are you going to do now, nya?" Yoru asked.

"We're staying here tonight," Ikuto said.

Su and Miki began to wake up.

"Miki-chan!" Yoru meowed, a blush crossing his cheeks.

He floated over to his beloved and alighted on the table.

"Ah, Amu-chan! Is she okay, desu? Ah, Ikuto-san!" Su squealed in her high voice. She was slightly disoriented.

"Yoru-kun!" Miki's cheeks turned a lovely pink colour, making the two blue Charas a matching pair.

Su flew over to Ikuto. Dia summed up what had happened so far, and Su breathed out a sign of relief.

"I'm so glad Amu-chan is okay, desu!" She smiled. "Demo, Ikuto-san, if you ever hurt her…" The Chara's bright green eyes turned to eyes of flame, and a black, fiery background appeared.

Ikuto sweatdropped slightly, but was still scared by the motherly Chara. Little though she was, he was sure she would manage to do something very unpleasant to him should she feel the need to.

Satisfied that her message was clearly received and taken into consideration, Su immediately calmed down and smiled sweetly at the navy-haired boy.

"Ano… What do we do now?" Ran asked.

"Well, we have to let her sleep, desu!" Su answered.

"Just wait until she wakes up; we don't know how she's feeling," Dia advised.

Looking at the pink-haired girl longingly, Ikuto sat on the floor, leaning against the bed. He was sure she wouldn't appreciate waking up to him sleeping in the same bed with her, unfortunately; as much as he wanted to do so, he didn't want to upset her even more. He closed his eyes and let himself nod off, hoping to see his love awake and happy the next day.

**

* * *

**

Ikuto awoke with a start. He looked around, trying to find what startled him.

He heard it again; a small whimpering sound. He shot up from the ground, spinning to look at the girl sleeping on the bed. Her face was contorted in pain, and she was curled in a ball. Tears were running down her face.

Ikuto's heart twinged. His eyes filled with sorrow, knowing he couldn't really do a thing to take away any of her pain.

He saw Dia from the corner of his eye; she was floating next to him, looking at Amu.

"Her radiance is dimming," Dia said softly.

"Why?" Ikuto asked.

"Several reasons, I suppose," Dia paused. "I suspect some of it would be the residual negative energy from the attack earlier tonight. I think the rest is… Well, other things."

"What 'other things'…" Ikuto had caught on to Dia's hesitation.

"You should ask Amu-chan, it's not exactly my place to tell you if you don't already know," Dia said mysteriously, flying back into her egg.

"Wait… What do I do now?" Ikuto asked.

"Whatever you think is best for Amu-chan," Dia replied mystically.

Ikuto sighed. The little gold Chara was too mischievous for her own good. He sat down on the bedside, and rested his hand in Amu's soft hair. Once again, he found himself petting her as he would a cat.

_What is it with Amu and cats...? How come she doesn't have a cat Chara, anyway? _Ikuto idly wondered.

"Mm?" Amu sleepily groaned.

Ikuto disregarded this and continued with his ministrations.

Amu sprang away from Ikuto's touch, having realized it was him, but immediately collapsed onto the bed, grabbing her head.

"Ahh, it hurts!" Amu grimaced.

Ikuto didn't know what to do, so he simply took her into his arms and sat her on his lap. Her head was leaning on his strong, firm, chest, and she subconsciously leaned closer, inhaling his comforting scent as the pain faded away.

"Ikuto, what are you doing here?" Amu inquired, her face still buried in his chest.

The man in question chose not to mention the fact that Amu was still against him, because she would undoubtedly jump away again, and who knew what that would cause.

"I go anywhere I want," he simply replied. He decided it would also not be a good idea to tell Amu he had seen her at one of her weakest moments.

"Ikuto found you last-!" Ran piped up, but was quickly interrupted by Dia covering her mouth.

Amu craned her neck to look in Ran's direction.

"What did you just say, Ran?" Amu asked.

"She just said that Ikuto was here since last night!" Dia cheerfully replied, smiling fakely.

"Okay…" Amu looked slightly confused, but dropped the subject. She then suddenly remembered about the X-Eggs.

"But…wait… Last night?" She asked.

Dia sighed. The little Chara decided to just tell the truth, since it would only hurt Amu more if she found out that even her own Charas kept the truth from her.

"Well, last night X-Eggs came and they did an unusual attack. We don't know for sure what happened, because it's never happened before. Ikuto came later and took us all home, because we were knocked out and you had passed out from the pain," Dia finished.

"Oh…" Amu said quietly, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Her bottom lip quivered a little, but she bit it in the hopes that she wouldn't give in to the weakness she felt.

_I always have to be saved by Ikuto… I don't deserve him but I fucking love him…_ She thought miserably.

"Amu-koi…" Ikuto huskily whispered into her ear, seeing her distress.

She turned her head farther away when he tried getting in her line of view. He finally just reached up and tugged her chin in his direction, forcing her watery, golden eyes to meet his own navy blue ones.

He saw no better time than this to kiss her full on the lips.

Her eyes widened as she took in the moment. Shortly after, she closed her eyes in bliss at the feeling of finally being with the person she loved the most. Dia smiled widely when she felt Amu's radiance begin to rise.

The kiss seemed to last forever, and Amu quickly forgot about everything else, including the fact that her Charas were still in the room.

Yoru took this as a good time to pull Miki in and give her a little peck on the cheek. They both looked in opposite directions, blushing, but they held hands.

Amu was disappointed when the kiss ended, but she knew the both of them needed air. Her eyes opened again to meet Ikuto's. They were both breathing hard. _Oh well,_ she thought impishly. _I'm sure there'll be more in the near future._

Amu smiled dazzlingly at Ikuto. Dia instantly felt her radiance shoot up, higher than it had been in a long time. Ikuto, for once, reciprocated the gesture instead of smirking as he always did, happy that his love was finally in high spirits.

"I love you, Ikuto," she spoke first, resting her forehead against his. "I love you so much."

At this, Ikuto couldn't help but smirk.

"And you know that I love you too," he replied huskily.

Their lips met yet again.

* * *

Ajfirojgoiragoirjgvfoidagd this oneshot took me like two weeks to write, ohhhhh myyyyy. X.X

12 pages, 3958 words. T.T

Translations:

-chan : The suffix used when addressing a girl you're familiar with, or little boys. Or just anyone you want to give the cute effect. LOL.

-kun : The suffix for boys.

Wai : Yay

Demo: But

..., desu : Su says this at the end of her sentence for cuteness.

Gomen : Sorry (informal, for people you know well)

Minna : Everyone

Amu-chan no kokoro: Unrokku! : Amu-chan's heart: Unlock!

Nya : Meow

Gomenasai : Sorry (Polite/respectful)

Eto/Ano: Uhh/Umm

-san : Polite suffix for someone you respect or don't know too well

-koi : Suffix for lovers; literally means "lover"


End file.
